Helena Lucas with her Paralympic Gold medal.

On Friday 14th February more than 50 people attended St. John’s Church Hall in Caterham Valley to hear Helena Lucas give an entertaining talk for COAT (Caterham Overseas Aid Trust) on how she won Paralympic Sailing Gold at London 2012.

Helena, who was brought up in Greenwood Gardens, Caterham, dreamt of reaching the Olympics from an early age, but not in sailing! After a flotilla holiday in Greece with her parents she was won over to the joys of water sports.

Then, after joining her parents’ sailing club and going on to compete successfully in many regatta events, she eventually reached the Olympic Trials in 2000 and 2004, only to miss out on both occasions.

Despite these setbacks, she never gave up, and althoughborn with no thumbs she had never considered herself disabled until one of her support team suggested the Paralympics. Helena became a member of the Paralympic sailing team, and despite the team not achieving expectations in Beijing, she came good at London 2012 and won Paralympic Gold in the 2.4MR class, afterwards being awarded an MBE. Helena is the only female to win Paralympics Sailing Gold, and her success is all the more remarkable because she has shown total dedication to excel against all the odds in a maledominated sport. Still ambitious, Helena is now competing this year for selection for the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

She is an inspiration to us all, and COAT is very grateful to her for her talk and the £200 raised from a retiring collection.